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Nigella Lawson's staff were made to buy copies of Charles Saatchi's books in order to help them up the bestseller lists, a court has heard.
Elisabetta Grillo, who worked as Lawson's housekeeper for more than 10 years, said she spent £200 on his books four times a week at stores around London and on Amazon. She told the court that other members of staff were expected to do the same.
Grillo is accused of defrauding Saatchi of £105,000 spent on a corporate credit card, alongside her sister, Francesca, who is accused of spending £580,000. They have both denied the charges in a case being heard at Isleworth Crown Court.
Elisabetta told the court: "I took cash out for different things, to pay my phone bill, I also took cash out to pay for books because Charles wanted to push it up the bestsellers lists. I took out £200 and we would go around different stores across London four times a week, Waterstones and also Amazon. All of the staff had to do it."
When asked if she was exaggerating, she replied: "No".
Saatchi, the co-founder of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi and a well-known art collector, has published five books, which have sold a combined 44,995 copies through BookScan, for a value of £330,168.
His bestselling title is Be The Worst You Can Be: Life's Too Long for Patience and Virtue (Booth-Clibborn Editions) which has sold 17,677 copies for £140,487 since 2012.
The agency Saatchi founded with his brother Maurice in 1995, M&C Saatchi, helped create the Books Are My Bag campaign to promote books and independent book shops, which launched in September.
The case continues.